Parupalli Kashyap knocked out of Badminton World Championships

Copenhagen Recently crowned Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap could not continue his winning run at the World Badminton Championships as he was tamed by German Dieter Domke in the opening round at the 9200seater Ballerup Super Arena here MondayParupalli Kashyap PicAFPIndias top mixed doubles combine Ashwini Ponnappa and Tarun Kona also had to face a first round exit but the pairs of Akshay DewalkarPranaav Jerry Chopra and Arun VishnuAparna Balan notched up wins in their respective doubles categoriesThough Kashyap had a strong 51 record against Domke the 27yearold tall German has been in top form of late and had also drubbed the Hyderabadi the last time they played at the Thomas Cup in May in New DelhiDomke registered his second triumph on the trot in seven meetings over World No27 Kashyap as he clinched the closely fought mens singles tie 2624 1321 2118 in a marathon match which lasted an hour and eight minutesAfter sharing two tough games it was all to fight for in the decider where Domke led throughout until the Indian levelled it twice at 13all and 17all However the German made sure that four of the last five points were won by him to enter the second round and send his Indian opponent packingEarlier Tarun and Ashwini had lost the first game 1621 to Danish World No16 pair Anders Kristiansen and Julie Houmann The World No39 Indian combine gave a tough fight in the second game but eventually went down 2527 in a tight match which lasted 46 minutesHowever in some good news for Ashwini she along with her womens doubles partner Jwala Gutta got a walkover in their opener to enter the second round as Englands Heather Olver and Kate Robertshaw withdrew from the tournamentThey have a tough second round ahead when they take on Chinese fifth seeds Qing Tian and Yunlei Zhao who have an unbeaten 60 record against Jwala and AshwiniLater Dewalkar and Chopra came out on top in a topsyturvy mens doubles opener to proceed to the second roundIt was a neckandneck encounter in the first game against Hong Kong pair Yun Lung Chan and Chun Hei Lee but Dewalkar and Chopra did well to stick it out and take home the first game 2119The second game was also pretty close at the start but as it progressed the World No43 combine from Hong Kong kept extending their lead to win it 2116 and level the matchYun and Chun maintained most of the lead till 1614 in the decider but the World No39 Indians came out with a brilliant spurt to scalp the next six points and have four matchpoints at hand However Dewalkar and Chopra wasted all four of them and the match was level once more at 20allThe Indian pair managed to keep its nerves and easily took the next two points to win the 54minute encounter and will next take on South Korean fifth seeds Ki Jung Kim and Sa Rang KimArun Vishnu and Aparna Balan had a rather easy outing as they won their mixed doubles opener against Brazilians Hugo Arthuso and Fabiana Silva 2112 2114 in only 23 minutes However they have a tough second round against German sixth seeds Michael Fuchs and Birgit Michels